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Hansworst
Hansworst is a comic series written and drawn by Gilbert Sarria. Hansworst, which is Dutch for "buffoon" is about a failing crime writer (Buffon) who turns into a detective. Hansworth books were published from 1959 to 1971. The series is nowadays a classic and one of the most iconic of Brunant alongside Cincinnati Morgan. History and plot In the 1950s he began planning out what would become Hansworst. In 1954 he released the first of several standalone comic books which would inspire and be an early basis for Hansworst. In 1959 he released the first book in the series, which was published by little-known Roodstad-based "Fenix". The first two books had a very small printing run in black and white, and are highly prized by collectors today. From 1960 the series took off in popularity and would become a financial success. Between 1960 and 1968 Sarria released eleven books. The setting for the Hansworst books is never mentioned, though based on the general architecture it can be surmised to be Koningstad, though with mostly fictional locations. As a detective, Hansworst had to deal with criminals of all sorts, the police who attemps to prevent him from stealing their cases and even having to deal with accusations of commiting crimes. While Hansworst was clearly a comic "graphic book" he borrowed many elements from novel-writing, such as carrying over plots from one book to the other and having several sub-series. The series' success in the 1960s made Sarria renown across Europe and some Hansworst material would be published in French in the Spirou magazine in 1965 and 1966. In 1968 the series was transformed to "Hansworst in Paris", where he continues foiling crime at the expense of the police. Four books were published from 1968 to 1971 on his adventures in Paris though these did not achieve the same success as his earlier works. In 1971 he stopped writing the Hansworst series though he did create a much shorter book on his return to Brunant in 1975. Fenix published all of the Hansworst books and was financially well-off during this period, and though it went broke in 1980 Fenix was resurrected by the writers and drawers to continue. The series of Detective Hansworst books were reprinted in 2008-2010. Characters *'Hansworst': A failed crime writer who turns his attention to actually solving crime. While an inept, bumbling figure, he puts more work than the police towards solving crimes and is able to close more cases, leading to resentment and hostility from the police. He was described by Sarria as "a man who knows nothing, thinks he knows everything but actually dedicates his all towards cases". Hansworst is partly based on Sarria, in particular the pipe-smoking trait. *'Dudek': The head of the local police force, Dudek is a lazy, desk-sitting policeman who does very little, takes the credit when credit is to be given and believes himself to be the finest policeman around. Dudek develops a deep hatred for Hansworst and is a main antagonist. *'Magda/The Black Cat': A recurring thief who robs the wealthy at night to help the poor, like Robin Hood. In 1965, Hansworst partners up with a femme fatale, Magda, who uses his cunning to continue stealing and foiling the police and rivals, which her partner never suspects. *'Detective Schmitt': Appears in the "Hansworst in Paris" books, and is a rival detective to the hero. Schmitt is not as cunning as Hansworst so he ends up using dirty tricks to discredit him and sabotage his work. Schmitt is later revealed to scheming with the police against Hansworst. Books Fifteen Hansworth books were made from 1959 to 1971, including four about "Hansworst in Paris". In popular culture Sarria created a subsequent series titled The Black Cat in 1976, which even had Hansworst in cameo appearances. The comic books were adapted for a cartoon series which was aired from 1966 to 1968 on BR&T. A film was planned for 1977 with Sarria as director though this was left unfinished and was only released in 2001 as shorts. The buffoon detective would become an inspiration for the lead character in the 1970s TV series Hopkins. Hansworst was featured on a 2014 stamp for "Brunanter art". Category:Comics